A young couple, Amandine and chef Jean-Michel Carrette, run the establishment. Jean-Michel’s parents moved into what was a motor inn in 1979 when he was two years old.

Amandine Carrette

Jean-Michel’s parents obtained a Michelin star in 1999 but he only moved in to take over the restaurant in 2004 when his father passed away suddenly.

To his surprise Jean-Michel kept the Michelin star, helped by his mother for the next two years, but now he’s clearly his own man.

Chef Jean-Michel Carrette in the kitchen of Aux Terrasses

Jean-Michel had previously worked for years in haute-cuisine: at le Souffle, London Intercontinental, between 1997-2000 and then at the 3-star Michelin Maison Troisgros in Ouches, near Rouen.

An Anglophile, he relaxes by playing the guitar and listening to music; indeed, after the meal we chatted listening to Portishead. Aux Terrasses is still a family business: his wife, Amandine, runs the hotel and his mother runs the souvenir shop.

Jean-Michel Carrette

And so I arrive at Aux Terrasses. It’s an autumnal Tuesday evening but the restaurant is full with people taking pictures of their food. I don’t blame them.

And here comes the menu degustation.

Tartelette crème chou-fleur et sesame. Chips de polenta, mousse de foie de volaille
Two tiny but flavourful amuse–bouches, the cauliflower is complementary to the sesame. Light and flavour just climbs to the back of the palate and lingers.

Glace gazpacho, radis, fleur de Tagète
This gazpacho sorbet palate cleanser may well be the boldest and most remarkable thing I’ve eaten. The fleurs de Tagète are tiny local, comestible marigold flowers.

Queue de langoustines, tagliatelle de celeri, crème de languoustine safran et cardamom, pate de cédrat
The langoustine tails come wrapped around a hot stone that cooks them on the spot. The taste lingers and lingers: a burp immediately after I finish brings up a welcome dose of its mixture of saffron, seafood and cardamom flavour.

I watched Jean-Michel in the kitchen earlier make the mushroom sauce but hey I thought he’d pour it over the chicken; instead he stuffed it into an onion croquette.As for the gravy, I could drink it whole.